The importance of threatened host plants for arthropod diversity: the fauna associated with dendroid Euphorbia plants en
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The importance of threatened host plants for arthropod diversity: the fauna associated with dendroid Euphorbia plants endemic to the Canary and Madeira archipelagos David Hernández‑Teixidor1,2 · Irene Santos1,2 · Daniel Suárez1,2 · Pedro Oromí1 Received: 20 November 2019 / Accepted: 31 July 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract The arthropod fauna associated with seven endemic dendroid Euphorbia was sampled and studied in the Canary and Madeira archipelagos. The stem-diameter of the plants was considered, along with their genetic affinity, habitat and number of localities and islands where present. The arthropod assemblages and richness found on each Euphorbia species were statistically analysed, to determine which variables influenced the survey results. A total of 179 arthropod species were found, identified, and classified into characteristic or accompanying fauna, according to their relationship with the plants and their types of diet. Faunal assemblages and arthropod species richness differed among the Euphorbia species, each thus showing a strong and almost unique host relationship. Species richness increased with the architectural complexity of the host-plant species and number of localities and islands where present. The similarity of faunal assemblages was mainly related to stem diameter. Among diet types, a great number of exclusive and/or endemic taxa associated with this plant genus were xylophages. Our survey revealed that rich arthropod communities are associated with the genus Euphorbia, especially on its rare endangered species, and highlights the need to protect their host plants. This in turn will contribute to the conservation of their arthropod communities and their ecosystem functions. Keywords Euphorbia · Arthropod assemblage · Conservation · Xylophagous · Macaronesia
Introduction Macaronesia is a biogeographical province located in the eastern Atlantic Ocean between the Iberian Peninsula and West Africa. It includes five archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canaries and Cabo Verde), as well as small coastal areas of southern Morocco and the southwest Iberian Peninsula (Fernández-Palacios 2010). All the archipelagos Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-020-00261-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * David Hernández‑Teixidor [email protected] 1
Departamento de Biología Animal, Edafología y Geología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La Laguna, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA-CSIC), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
2
have a volcanic origin, but due to their latitudes there are obviously significant climatic differences between them (Triantis et al. 2010). Other factors such as isolation, wind orientation, geological age and consequently surface area, relief and altitude, have led to a great variety of micro
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